Transport vessels, cruise liners, and passenger aircraft communicate to land-based systems via satellite links. To obtain near global coverage, multiple satellites covering multiple regions are required. Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA”), Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) and other cellular technologies are being deployed on the mobile transportation “vehicles” to provide voice, data and machine-to-machine (“M2M”) communications. A mobile radio base station (“RBS”) can communicate with a land-based base station controller (“BSC”) using a satellite link as backhaul transport.
Today's cellular technologies are designed based upon a radio base station in a non-mobile, fixed location connected to a single base simian controller. The RBS and BSC are configured in a was that allows communication therebetween. With the advent of providing cellular services on moving “vehicles” (e.g., ships and planes), the RBSs become mobile and can be located anywhere on the globe. The RBS, however, communicate (via satellite and terrestrial backbone) to a single BSC which may be located on the other side of the globe. To operate efficiently, the communications link between the RBS and the BSC should fulfill specific performance criteria. This can, many times, not be achieved when the RBS and BSC are located on opposite sides of the globe.
Despite continued efforts, these limitations have now become substantial hindrances for efficient global deployment of mobile radio access technology. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an approach that overcomes the deficiencies in the present mobile radio access technologies and systems.